It’s time to get this post up before all the local apples are gone! Do you love caramel apples this time of year? Me too, but I rarely eat them because of the mess. I came up with something today completely by accident and it was crazy delicious.
Skip down to the recipe if you’d rather not read my rambling about the disaster in my kitchen today…
It all started because I was taking dinner to a neighbor who has been ill and I wanted a nice fall-ish fruit dish to go with the beef stroganoff.
My sisters make a delicious “Caramel Apple Salad” (which is actually more of a dessert), and I decided to play with the recipe some and see if I could make it without the butterscotch pudding mix, Cool Whip, and marshmallows. So I whipped some real cream and made a yummy caramel sauce to mix with it (see below). It did have a really good flavor, but as I mixed it together, I watched it curdle before my eyes into a disgusting blob, all over my crispy peanuts and my nice, local apples from the farm market.
Maybe I whipped the cream too long, which I’ve done before… So I gave it another go.
Crappy Carumba!
It flopped again. That’s TWO batches of ingredients wasted. I decided to bag that idea, but in the process I found something better, although solidly in the dessert category (so don’t make this a lot – too much sugar).
NO MESS Homemade Caramel Apples
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup 1 stick of butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar preferably a natural sugar
- 1/2 cup cream whipping cream, NOT ultra-pasteurized
- Optional: 1 teaspoon sea salt for a salty caramel taste
- Apples about 1/2-1 per person, chopped
Instructions
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and cream (add salt at this point if you want a salty caramel taste). Stir until sugar dissolves and it starts to bubble, thicken and a brown a little. Then assemble in this order:
- Chop apples into a serving bowl (preferably local & organic)
- Sprinkle chopped crispy nuts over the apples
- Spoon homemade caramel on top
- Add a dollop of real whipped cream, if desired
Enjoy! By the way, this doesn’t make a lot, but it’s very sweet so each person only needs a little bit. Let me know what you think. 🙂
Geri@heartnsoulcooking says
YUMMY!!! and no MESS!!! two together that sound GREAT!!! together when making something the family will enjoy.
Geri
janmary, n ireland says
I am a huge fan of the words “NO MESS” too 🙂
Thanks for sharing.
Alexis AKA MOM says
YUMMY and you said the magic word no mess! These look wonderful!
Kara says
Sounds delish and easier to eat than regular caramel apples! btw, I use a candy candy thermometer, which lets me know how stiff the final sauce will be. Here’s one recipe:
https://anhourinthekitchen.com/2009/10/caramel-apples/
Mandy says
Mmmmm…that sounds delicious! I have a feeling that your recipe is tastier (butter makes everything tastier…), but I’ll go ahead and share a recipe I enjoy this time of year. This post reminded me of it!
Caramel Apple Dip Recipe
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
2 cups Medjool dates, chopped and soaked for at least one hour (but no more than 2 hours) in a mixture of water with the juice of one half small lemon (drain the dates, and leave the soaking water aside)
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract
juice of one half small lemon
1 teaspoon salt
Blend in a high powered blender, and using the plunger tool, keep moving the mixture as the blender might struggle a bit. Add the soaking water as needed to get desired consistency. Blend until creamy. Serve the dip with apples or pears.
It yields a pretty creamy, almost fluffy dip – not as dense as real caramel. But it’s really good – I could eat it by the spoonful. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your “accident.” I’m going to have to try your recipe next!
Samantha says
I had to chuckle at over whipping the cream. My sister does that every time. Thanks for the recipe! I actually needed a recipe for caramel anyway so I can bake some not-quite-as-unhealthy Samoa cookies (like Girl Scouts).